Kerwick: Jason Bay and Mets agree to part ways

With good guys, you dig through couch cushions for loose coins. You comb the beach for buried jewelry. You hunt for any hint of value.

So we perked up when Jason Bay helped the Mets win an August game in Miami with a first-inning grand slam.

We took notice when his second-inning home run helped R.A. Dickey collect win No. 19.

But there were never enough coins. No metal detector could turn up enough jewelry. And that’s what makes this saga so sad.

Bay was a good guy – a great guy – but a terrible ballplayer in New York.

Certainly not a $66 million ballplayer.

So the Mets saved themselves some spring training headaches, opened up a roster spot, and freed up some payroll for next season by cutting ties with their beleaguered left fielder Wednesday. Bay will receive all the money he was owed, according to several reports, though some of it will be deferred.

Bay is owed $16 million for the 2013 season, and the Mets also will pay $3 million to buy out the contract option for 2014 and $2 million more for the final installment on his signing bonus.

“I just hope Jason has some peace of mind and gets a chance to show people he can still play,” Mets manager Terry Collins said Wednesday afternoon.

Bay hit just .234 with 26 homers and 124 RBI during his three seasons in New York. He suffered two concussions during his tenure in Queens.

This past season, he appeared to strike bottom. He hit just .165. He had nine RBI from June through October.“All the conversations I had with Jason about things,” Collins said, “nobody was more frustrated with what happened than he was.”

“I just think he takes a lot upon himself. He puts a lot of pressure on himself to play at a high level. I think it’s indicative of the way he was in the clubhouse: ‘I will give you everything I’ve got every night.’Ÿ”On an August night in Cincinnati, I approached Bay at his locker. He still was carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders, even as he tried to mask it.

“I’m very aware of the situation and everything that may or may not happen,” Bay confessed. “In all honesty, I’m literally going day to day right now. I haven’t really given too much thought to anything. I’m literally just showing up here and doing what I can that day in whatever role.”

It was a role that kept diminishing. A few days before our conversation, Collins used rookie Jordany Valdespin instead of Bay against the Braves, even though Bay had a .400 career average against Atlanta starter Ben Sheets.

As the lights dimmed on the season, Bay started just two of the team’s final 11 games. His last hurrah was the home run he hit at Citi Field during Dickey’s 19th win.

“It’s still there,” Collins said after that game. “It’s not like this guy has lost his strength. It’s not like he has lost his bat speed. He has not. That’s why we continue to search for the answers.”

The search is over – for the Mets, not for Bay. He is a free agent.

A terrible ballplayer in New York, but a terrific guy, will continue to comb the beach, hoping to find some answers.